Tamil Nadu to host Rajasthan in Ranji Trophy final

Tamil Nadu will host defending champions Rajasthan in the final of the Ranji Trophy at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, from January 19, BCCI announced on Friday.

This will be Tamil Nadu's first appearance in a Ranji Trophy final, since 2003-04, when they lost to Mumbai on the basis of first-innings lead in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu though took the revenge as they returned the favour at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai's home ground, in the semi-final of the ongoing edition.

Tamil Nadu have won the Ranji Trophy twice. The first instance was in 1954-55, when they beat Holkar in the final, played at Indore, by 46 runs. The team was known as 'Madras' then and Balu Alaganan was the captain.

The second triumph was achieved in 1987-88, under the captaincy of S Vasudevan. Railways were outplayed in the final by an innings and 144 runs.

The team has been runners-up eight times.

Rajasthan will look to repeat their success of the previous season. They created history in 2010-11, going all the way from the Plate Group to the Ranji Trophy final, and winning the title for the first time.

It was their first Ranji title, after being runners-up eight times.

Rajasthan beat Haryana in the semi-final of the ongoing edition by 64 runs, at Lahli.